The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Ray Smith was born and raised in Philadelphia. As a teenager, he was president of the “Roland” fan club, an effort to keep Broadcast Pioneers member John Zacherle on the air in Philadelphia. The effort failed.

Ray was a frequent dancer on American Bandstand from 1956 to 1959. In 1997, he co-authored Dick Clark’s American Bandstand book with Dick and Fred Bronson.

After forty years on the Today Show, Ray won an Emmy in 2005 as a writer and news tape producer on the show. He’s still on the show, but only once a week.

During his years at NBC, he earned a BA in Film Criticism, served as company manager of Noche Flamenca, the most successful flamenco dance company in the world, was stage manager, and dancer, for Sachiyo Ito’s Japanese Dance Company, was founder and co-artistic director of Directors’ Collective Theatre Company, casting director for The Jewish Repertory Theatre, and a PA on three Hollywood films. He is currently writing his memoirs, and, for the last nine years, writing a play about American Bandstand.

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com